OCR Text

Lethbridge Herald, The (Newspaper) - November 24, 1972, Lethbridge, Alberta
Friday, November 24, 1972 THE IETHBRIDGE HERALD Canada 'wasting money' in bid to develop new aircraft By JEFF CARRUTHEHS Herald Ottawa Bureau OTTAWA Canada should, skip the development of the deHavilland DHC-7 turbo-prop short take-oft and landing air- plane and concentrate on devel- oping the next generation of STOL aircraft, the all-jet aug- mentor wing airplane, recom- mends a senior Canadian scien- tist who has been close to Can- ada's STOL program. The danger, he believes, with continuing the DHC-7 develop- ment program is that Canada could lose money and only end up with "an interim solution" to STOL technology. "I think we have already missed the STOL boat and the DHC-7 development program should be the scien- tist, who for several reasons did not want to be named, said in a recent interview. "The chances of the DHC-7 V.sing successful have dimin- ished greatly" in the almost two years it has taken the fed- eral government to decide to support the DHC-7 development, he said. (About a month ago, the fed- eral government announced it will pour an additional mil- lion into deHavilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. and United Air- craft of Canada Ltd., builder o( the DHC-7 turbo-prop engine to finance production of two pro- totype DHC-7s. "We now stand to lose money if we continue with the DHC-7 the long- time senior science policy advi- sor to "If the DHC-7 was flying to- day it would be useful and probably sell quite he said. "But It won't be com- mercially available for prob- ably five years. And I don't think that in five years it will be acceptable to the ha said. It should be noted that, with any luck, the DHC-7 could be ready for commercial service in about three years. The scientist and STOL ex- pert describes the DHC-7 as "really just a STOL Viscount." Air Canada is phasing out Vis- counts from many of its routes even now. The DHC-7 will have all the disadvatnages of a propeller aircraft. It will be slow, com- pared to jets; it will provide a rougher ride that "might have been acceptable to public in Ihe days of the DC-3 but won't be readily acceptable and it will be quite noisy. Also, the public has generally become ac- customed to jets rather than prop planes. Canada should rather develop an all-jet STOL aircraft, using the Canadian-developed aug- mentor wing concept, that is now regarded by many STOL experts in Canada and the U.S. as the STOL aircraft of the ISllOs, the scientist suggests. The augmenlor wing principle permits exhaust gases from tile jet engines to be diverted lu flow over special flaps on the augmentor wing, to increase the lift capability of the wing dur- ing take-off and landing. In the U.S., Boeing Co. of Seattle is developing n jet STOL aircraft using deHavillond's augmentor wing concept. "Others in government and Industry associated with STOL share my misgivings about the DHC-7 the scientist said. R. D. Hiscocks, vice-president of industrial research assist- ance and promotion at NRC and formerly associated with della- villand's STOL program for many years, said in an inter- view Wednesday that he also feels that "the propeller STOL technology will only serve for a short interim period." He warned that Canada must have good answers of her oun involving jet propulsion tor KTOL aircraft by the end o[ this decade or Canada "will bo scooped." He noted that at present the United States (principally NASA) is spending some ?JOO million a year on jet STOL de- velopment. Other countries in Europe have also joined Ihe STOL development race. "It's just tragic llml we lost three or four years" of a head- Etail teeause the government delayed a decision to support STOL, he suggested. Canada needs to start right now looking at. and developing the jet STOL, the next gener- ation of STQL aircraft, if Can- ada is to be prepared for the 1380s, he said. He said he knows of mi sig- nificant work on jet STOL being done in Canada at present, even though the augmentor wing, considered to be an important advance that will allow jet STOL by next decade, was oc- veloped in Canada more than 10 years ago. "Canada may have an ex- cellent interim aircralL in Hie DHC-7. But I'm sure our com petitors are thinking of jot he said. Dr. 0. M. Solanclt, former head of the Science Council and long-time promoter of a Ccir.ci- dian STOL program, said lhat Canada's STOL program lias been delayed so long that there is the danger "it is now out of date." He noted llial the Science Council told the government al- most two years ago thai it was urgent that a STOL develop- ment program be launched right away at lhat lime, before Canada lost ils lead and ex- pertise in STOL. And he said Lhat he has al- ways slreiscd that the DHC-7 would lie only a "stop-gap." Some of the STOL experts in- seemed particularly concerned thai Ottawa, having decided to support the DHC-7, will now delay or even ignore altogether Ihe decision which must be made on the next gen- eration of STOL, the all-jet STOL aircraft. There seemed to be general Eftrermanl lhat Canada will not be able to go it alone with the jet STOL, lhat Canada for ex- amDle will need to combine v.ilh an engine company (such a.s Rollj Royce) in another country. Yet Canada does have a number of olher important pieces of STOL teclmology which could prove not only cru- cial lo jet STOL bul also quite profitable. BARGAINS YOUR FREEZER KERNEL CORN Bel Air or Green Beam French Style Canada Fancy 10-12 01. Net Wt. Pkg. 1 .00 Brussels Sprouts Bel Air or Lima Beans Canada Fancy 10-12 oz. Net Wt. Pkg. Frozen .00 1 ICE CREAM BARS Eskimo Brand Vanilla or Choc. Fudge Ctn. of 6-3 Fl. Oz. or Thin Minis Ctn. of 8-1.5 Fl. oz. Frozen BREAD DOUGH Bel Air White Pkg. of 5-1 Ib. 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